Agreements and friends on agenda for Indonesia visit

8 May, 2014

Agreements and friends on agenda for Indonesia visit

A high-level, multi-disciplinary delegation from the University of Waikato will visit Indonesia next week to catch up with alumni and sign a Memorandum of Understanding with one of the country’s top universities, Airlangga University.

The delegation is headed by Chancellor, the Rt Hon Jim Bolger, and Vice-Chancellor Professor Roy Crawford and includes faculty deans Professor Roger Moltzen (Education), Professor Bradford Morse (Law), and Professor Geoffrey Holmes (Computing and Mathematical Sciences), along with South East Asia International Market Manager Elle Freestone.

The visit – from 11-15 May – takes in Indonesia’s second largest city Surabaya and the capital Jakarta.

In Surabaya, a Memorandum of Understanding will be signed with Airlangga University while the delegation will also attend a dinner organised by the New Zealand Embassy to deepen engagement in the region. Airlangga University is one of Indonesia’s top universities with more than 24,000 students and 13 faculties.

In Jakarta the delegation will visit secondary schools before hosting an event at the New Zealand Ambassador’s residence for alumni and friends to mark the University of Waikato’s 50th anniversary. Among the high-profile University of Waikato alumni attending is Teuku Faizasyah, Indonesia’s Presidential spokesman for Foreign Affairs, who completed his PhD at Waikato in 2004.

Professor Crawford says it is exciting to be able to establish new agreements with international partners and to catch up with alumni.

“We see Indonesia as an important nation, not only for the prominent role it plays in the Asia-Pacific region but also because we value the opportunity to form partnerships with highly regarded tertiary institutions in Indonesia.”

“This is a good opportunity to grow the University of Waikato’s presence in the region and to reconnect with the many alumni we have in Indonesia.”

The influential Times Higher Education (THE) rankings organisation currently has the University of Waikato in the Top 50 in the world on two of its most important rankings categories: the ‘Most International Universities in the World’ list and the ‘Top Universities Under 50 Years Old’.

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